US national team head coach Bob Bradley today unveiled his final 23 man roster that will play in the 2010 FIFA World Cup which begins next month in South Africa.

A little over two weeks ago, Bradley announced a thirty man provisional roster to take part in a camp at Princeton University and play in a friendly against the Czech Republic.

After a 4-2 loss in that game, Bradley has made the seven cuts and the World Cup roster is now complete.

At forward, Bradley trimmed the six players on the initial list to four and released Eddie Johnson and Brian Ching. Ching comes as perhaps the most surprising cut from the initial 30 man roster.

Last year the veteran Ching fell out of favor with Bradley and earlier this year, suffered a hamstring injury, however last night the native Hawaiian played well up top with Herculez Gomez and was part of several scoring opportunities.

Still, most thought Ching would make the squad and provide veteran leadership to the team in South Africa.

On the roster, Gomez and Findley will surely be considered the most surprising players on this roster with neither having been in consideration during World Cup qualifying.

Gomez's play with Puebla in 2010 as well as a strong camp and a goal in last night's friendly forced Bradley's hand.

For Findley, he comes into roster having won a MLS Cup with Real Salt Lake. The speedy forward had only one cap entering into 2010 and that was in a 2007 friendly against Switzerland.

Of the four forwards on the roster, Gomez, Buddle and Findley were not part of World Cup qualifying.

In the midfield, Sacha Kljestan, Robbie Rogers, and Alejandro Bedoya were released back to their clubs. After entering into 2010 as an uncapped player, Bedoya made a strong push in recent months but his effort fell just short. The Weston, Florida native looks to be a key player with the start of the 2014 cycle beginning in just a few months.

On defense, Bradley released Chad Marshall and Heath Pearce. This comes as no surprise as Pearce had a very poor outing against the Czech Republic and Marshall was unable to see action in the game.

Injuries and fitness will be of top concern as Carlos Bocanegra, Oguchi Onyewu and Jay Demerit have all missed games recently.

The US will be looking to rebound next month in South Africa after a poor World Cup four years ago in Germany when the Americans failed to advance out of group play. On the 23 man roster, only six players have played in a World Cup game before.

The complete US World Cup team will play their first of two friendlies this Saturday in Philadelphia when they face Turkey. After arriving in South Africa, the Americans are scheduled to play one last friendly against Australia in Roodepoort on June 5th before beginning Group C play on June 12th versus England.

Borenstein does not belong on this team. He is a weak defender. The 1st goal the Czechs scored was his mistake and the one consistent thing about about is that he consistently makes defensive mistakes. Bedoya or Rogers would have been much better choices. I just hope Borenstein does not see any game time because I think it will cost us if he does.

much adu

Friday May 28, 2010 2:10 am

Mike Lamb, Have you heard of Rafer Alston.....skiptomylou to and1 fans. Uh he did quite well at the nba level for a number of teams. Ever see pistol pete maravich play......how bout magic johnson...... flairs not a bad thing if it works. See Fredy play in the last olympics? Why not you tube Freddy with his highlights from this years play at aris FC. Their coach is legendary. If coach Cuper of Aris, who by the way Coach Bradley will never ever be half as good as, would start Freddy in their recent Greek league playoff, why is he not even invited to tryout with mediocre mls players like klestian, bornstein or clark? Freddy has played well with the USMT, but very rarely with the starters. Im sure coach bradley doesnt want him to show up his son with obvious offensive skills. In 2014, we will obviously need him, yet beasley and findley who have no future, get the chance. Lastly to compare our national team to the nba's dream team is not right. Sorry couldnt disagree with you more. With Jones, davies and freddy adu...this team would be very dangerous and yes stand toe to toe with mighty england, instead of the 4-1 drubbing that is sure to take place. A pity we couldnt get key players on this team.

Shaun

Friday May 28, 2010 1:18 am

Though taking Findley over Ching definately made me scratch my head, what truly upsets me is the fact that Freddy Adu was once again left off, not only the final 23, but the 30 as well.... While I too am wondering why we wouldn't save that 4th forward spot for a taller forward to hold the ball up for the other 3 smaller, athletic guys up front, I am really upset for Freddy. Here he was guaranteed a STARTING role on Ghana's team 4 years ago, and declined because he wished to represent the country he calls home, unlike.....hmmmm..... a Jersey-born kid named Rossi.... While I continue to wonder what the U.S. Soccer Federation/Coach Bradley see in Feilhaber, Adu could have at least brought some creativity off the bench. What kind of message does this send to players sitting on the fence in regards to which flag they will represent (namely Michael Hoyos)...

Oh well.... In these situations I just put all my faith in the USSF.... After all, Coach Bradley and his assistants know far more than any of us about players health, form, etc.... This 23-man roster is the United States Men's National Team enroute to South Africa, and I will be cheering for each and every one of them. COME ON YOU YANKS!!!!!

cudevil

Thursday May 27, 2010 6:57 pm

muchadu...yes, we've seen Freddy take on a bunch 17 year olds with pace and creativity. When has he ever done that at the club level (MLS, Portugal, Ligue 1, Greek league), much less at the national team level? Maybe he does have better ball skills than Dempsey/Donovan. I bet the And 1 Hoops Team and the Harlem Globetrotters have some better ball skills than NBA All-Stars, and yet I don't see people asking for them to be on the Dream Team...Seriously, Freddy is young enough to get this turned around, but comments about him playing now are just ridiculous...

MarkO...agree with most of your comments, especially about Bornstein. Everyone knows he's terrible, but Pearce was so much worse against the Czechs. One of those two was going to go--that's just not open to debate. Bradley picked the lesser of two evils.

SamF

Thursday May 27, 2010 4:35 pm

I'm a little bit surprised to see so many people calling for altidore/buddle or altidore/gomez up top. Given BB's post game comment on testing holden for 90 minutes I would guess that was an indication that he intends to start Holden and Donovan on the wings with Dempsey/Altidore on top. I would be completely in favor of this.

mmee

Thursday May 27, 2010 4:29 pm

Heartbreak for Rogers, who isn't quite good enough for the midfield group, despite his good game against the Czechs, when we have worse players in the defensive and forward groups. It make one wonder whether Bradley intends to use Findley as a sub, not as a backup in case of injury. If he doesn't intend to sub Findley in, he may as well have counted Dempsey as a forward and brought Rogers, who isn't great but is higher quality than Findley. I can't imagine how Findley can possibly be a better super-sub than Gomez in any circumstance, speed notwithstanding, so why bring him?

More importantly, who wants to bet $20 that Chad Marshall won't get called back in by the day after the Australia match? Goodson is the only centerback without a physical problem, from best reports. Marshall is better than a limping Onyewu who was outjumped- that wasn't a fitness or timing problem for a pro. Bocanegra and DeMerit may get a run-out on Saturday, with Boca a better chance to be fully fit. DeMerit's eye problems have continued for months. The coaching staff knows plenty we don't, but I'm still ready to bet a Jackson that Marshall gets recalled- any takers?

MarkO

Thursday May 27, 2010 12:46 pm

Comment #1: Overall, Bob Bradley has managed the player pool well this WC cycle. Perhaps we disagree on one or two selections, but overall, many players got a chance. That is good.

Comment #2: Findley must have won his spot in training. Seems like they are trying to keep Findley a "secret", so that Slovenia or Algeria don't know what to do with him when he plays. We can't keep any secrets from England, they know us too well.

Comment #3: I was surprised BB brought 4 strikers, and only 7 defenders. I was very surprised Buddle was picked over Ching. I was also surprised Gomez made the team. I see Gomez as a "super-sub" off the bench. However, I don't think he makes a good starter.

Comment #4: I thought Bornstein got "skinned alive" at left back. Then I saw Heath Pierce. Bradley had no choice. As for starting, JB can play against Slovenia or Algeria, but I worry about England. He was badly exposed for a lack of pace against the Czechs.

Comment #5: I was rooting for Bedoya, but I agree with Bradley that Beasley was the choice this time. I see Bedoya getting a great opportunity next WC cycle, but not this time.

Comment #6: I am very worried about our defense. If this doesn't improve, it will be a very short WC.

muchadu

Thursday May 27, 2010 11:52 am

Jordan, People who know the sport, can blatantly see adu has better on the ball skills than dempsey or donovan. Selfish?! ok I admit his defense needs work, but thats not where we need the help. Have you not seen our ineptness controlling the ball against good teams. Have you seen Freddy dribble at people and make great passes to others. Watch great players, play. Watch the EPL or Serie A or La Liga. Stop watching the MLS to understand great players who dribble at people with skill, CREATE great scoring opportunties......especially to forwards like altidore who cant score without good service. Nobody on our team possesses these skills, maybe Torres, but not as good as Adu. Counter attacking without ball control on the offensive side of the field is not the sign of a good team. Yes we did it against Spain and Brazil, but got lucky in the first one and suffered the obvious consequences of a mediocre team in the second one. Don't forget the first two games of the tourney where we got out played entirely in both games.

Sam

Thursday May 27, 2010 11:12 am

How does Bornstein make this? He was garbage against netherland, he was garbage against the Czech R.,and he'll probably be garbage in the WC...

Rob

Thursday May 27, 2010 10:33 am

I would like to see our formation change depending on the opponent. Against England, I think we need to play Spector at LB, because we need our most agile option to go up against Lennon/Walcott. Clint would play in a roaming role behind Jozy to take advantage of an unfit Barry or whomever else they roll out at DM. Landon on the left should get into some good attacking positions against Glenn Johnson.

Jozy
Landon Clint Holden
Edu MB
JS Gooch Boca Dolo

Against Slovenia, who sit deep waiting to counter, I would bring in Feilhaber because when he is on (which is not always the case), he has the creativity to unlock defenses and better 1v1 skills than what I've seen from Torres. If he's having an off day, bring in Torres after 60 min. Boca moves to LB as our best option at the position (except against an extremely quick RMF as mentioned above).

Landon Jozy Clint
Benny Edu MB
Boca JD Gooch JS

With Algeria it will depend a lot on what happened in the previous two games. I'd imagine Clark will have to come in for MB because of/to protect from suspension. Formation would be back 4 from Slovenia with rest from England.

Not sure it BB will want to tinker with tactics this much, but I like it. Thoughts?